When a sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, the first thing he seeks is forgiveness. And what he finds is a God who delights to forgive, who is ready to forgive, who wants to forgive, and who has given a promise to forgive.

That sinner may feel all the burden of the sins that he has committed. With the words of David, he may say, “Against You and You alone I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.” But then, upon confession, he finds forgiveness. Yes, 1 John 1:9 is still true: if we confess our sins, He—that is, God—is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He cleanses us from all sin. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. There is not one single sin that remains unforgiven. He forgives them all.

Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ has laid the righteous foundation for that. And now we know our sins are forgiven—no punishment anymore.

That may be, as I said before, the first thing that somebody seeks: forgiveness. But by far, that is not the only thing that God wants to grant. And in this video and in the following videos, we want to occupy ourselves with the topic of justification.

I just want to read one verse from the Bible, and we go to Romans chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. There we read:

“Therefore, having been justified on the principle of faith…”

Let us pause here for a while. “Therefore”—that connects us to the chapters before, chapters 4 and 3. Actually, the apostle Paul had explained what justification means, and we will go back to a few verses from those chapters. In chapter 4, he had explained on what principle the believers of the Old Testament had been forgiven and justified. And now, in chapter 5, he comes back to the whole topic of justification.

He says, “Having been justified.” Since that is the case, we have been justified. We are now just in the sight of God, and that on the principle of faith, not on the principle of works.

And then he says there are three results of that. We have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is number one.

Number two: “By whom we have also access by faith into this favor in which we stand.”

And number three: “And we boast in hope of the glory of God.”

In this video, we want to occupy ourselves with what justification is. That is the first phrase of those verses: “Having been justified.” Well, what does it mean to be justified?

And in the following videos, we want to occupy ourselves with the results of justification—three results for those who have been justified on the principle of faith.

But what is justification?

Well, let me tell you a little story.

There is a father, and this father has the peculiar custom that every time his son commits a sin, when there is something wrong, like an offense, he takes a nail and hammers it into a board. And during the course of that week, there might be quite a few nails on that board.

But when his son comes to him and confesses the sin, based upon the principle on which God also forgives us, he forgives his son. And as a sign of that, he takes pliers and pulls those nails out of the board. And with that, the whole matter is done. It is dealt with.

At the end of the week, the grandfather comes. He knows about the peculiar, strange custom of his son, and he goes straight to that board and looks at it. Well, he does not find any nails, but what he does find are the holes that those nails left behind. And he starts counting.

Do you not think that this will have an effect on how he looks at his grandchild?

Well, the sins may have been forgiven by the father, but there is still something in the room. The whole matter comes up again, and the father realizes that, well, the punishment and the sin itself may have been forgiven, but his son still stands there as the guilty one, as the one who is accused. The accusation itself is still in the room.

And so what he does, after the grandfather has left, is take the board. He goes into his workshop, takes wood plaster, and plasters the whole board until you have one clean, nice-looking surface. No holes are visible anymore.

At the end of the week, the grandfather comes again. Again, he goes to the board. He looks at the board, and what does he see?

Nothing.

No nails, no holes, just a clean, nice surface.

He looks at his grandchild and says, “Wow, you have done nothing wrong this week. You are a good boy.” Or we could also say, “You are a just person. You have not done anything wrong.”

And do you not think that this has an effect on how the grandfather looks at his grandchild and how he deals with him?

He looks at him as a just person who has not done something wrong, not only as a forgiven person, but as somebody who has not even done something wrong.

And that, my dear friends, is justification.

Justification and forgiveness are two blessings that have the same foundation. Both rest upon the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. God has not spared His Son, but He has given His Son for us all, and He was delivered for our offenses.

He bore our sins in His body upon the tree, and there, in the three hours of darkness, God punished Him for our sins. He made Him sin.

But nonetheless, there are differences. Even though forgiveness and justification have the same foundation—the work of the Lord Jesus Christ—and both have God as the source of these blessings, there are differences.

Forgiveness, on the one side, is an act of God’s mercy, of God’s goodness, of God’s kindness. We have sinned against God. We have committed sins against God. But He forgave us those sins upon confession, and now He will not bring them up anymore.

He says in Hebrews 10:17–18, “And their sins and their lawlessness I will never remember anymore.”

Not one single sin remains when God forgives them, and He does so on the foundation of the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And for us, we know that whoever believes in the Son shall not be judged. No judgment, no punishment anymore.

Justification, on the other side, goes further than that.

It is more of a legal term. We could say it is the result of God’s just judgment. And the meaning of justification is to declare somebody just.

God declares those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be just. He says, “That is a just person.” And as such, that person stands before God, and as such, God looks upon that person—as a just person.

That, by the way, goes further than simply looking at us as though we had not sinned. That would perhaps put us on neutral ground.

No, God gives us a position before Him on positive ground, as a just person.

And you see, when we have forgiveness, the result is that there is no judgment anymore, that there is no punishment anymore. But justification goes further, and it even takes the accusation away.

It is as though God takes the indictment, opens it, and all He finds are empty, blank pages.

That is justification.

And that is how we stand before God, as those who, on the principle of faith, have been justified.

And that has an effect. That has results—wonderful results—and those results we want to look at in the next videos.

But let us go to Romans chapter 3 and see some more of the details that Paul opens up to us as to what justification really is.

And the first thing I would like to mention is the authority—the authority that justifies.

We read in Romans 8:33, “It is God who justifies.”

My friends, that really makes me happy. God is the authority. He is the highest authority in the whole universe. There is no one higher than Him. There is no one who could possibly question what He has done.

Sometimes in our earthly life, you may need to go to court, and maybe you do not like the verdict of that court. And therefore you go to a court that is on a higher level. And since it is on a higher level, that court can review the verdict of the other court and can also overrule it.

And if you are still not satisfied, you can still go to the highest court, like the Supreme Court.

But if the Supreme Court rules, the verdict is final. There is no other authority in this world that can overrule the Supreme Court’s verdict.

And that is the same thing when it comes to God. When God justifies, there is no one who can bring an accusation against those who believe in the Lord Jesus. There is no other authority. God is the highest authority.

And if He justifies, if He declares us just, then there is no one who can overrule Him. There is no one who can question that.

That is number one.

But why does God do that?

Well, whatever God does, whatever blessing He gives to us, there needs to be a righteous foundation.

And in Romans 5:9 we read, “Much rather therefore, having been now justified in the power of His blood, we shall be saved by Him…”

And there are also other Bible verses that show us God’s righteous foundation.

Well, that righteous foundation is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What He accomplished there on Calvary’s cross is God’s righteous foundation.

Yes, God wants to show mercy to us. God wants to show His love toward us, but He always needs a righteous foundation.

And you see, this is something very important. Maybe we quickly go to Romans chapter 1, and then I would like to show you something that especially Paul puts before us.

Romans chapter 1, verse 17. We read here:

“For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

In verse 16, he says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.”

Why not?

Because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

And then he says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed.”

You see, that is the thing.

It is not a righteousness on our side that somehow stands before God. No, it is the righteousness of God. It is God’s righteousness. This righteousness belongs to Him.

And Paul says, in this gospel that I preach—it is God’s gospel, it is His gospel to us, good news for man, sinful man—in that gospel, and I am not ashamed of that gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

That means that God acts upon a righteous foundation.

When God acts toward us, He does not do so simply because He feels good or because He just feels like showing mercy to us. No, it always needs to meet His righteous claims, His righteous demands toward sin.

And we could also ask: Where did that happen?

Well, that happened on the cross.

And that is what Paul now refers to here in Romans chapter 5, verse 9, and in other verses as well.

It is “in the power of His blood.” That points us to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the physical blood that he speaks about, but blood signifying the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is God’s foundation.

What is the proof or the assurance that we have that we are justified?

Well, in Romans 4:25 it says, “Who has been delivered for our offenses…” Because of our sins, He needed to die there. But then something else happened: “…and has been raised for our justification.”

How do we know that God has accepted the work of the Lord Jesus? How can we know? How can we know that what the Lord Jesus Christ did, what He claimed about Himself, and what He would do on this cross is all true?

Well, we look at the empty tomb. We look at the resurrection.

And there the Lord Jesus Christ has been raised by the glory of the Father.

And that is God’s stamp upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ: Accepted.

He answered to all the righteous demands that I had toward sin, and I give proof of that in that I raised Him from among the dead.

And so now everybody who believes in this accomplished work, which God has accepted, can know: I am justified.

What is the source?

Well, the source of that blessing is, as always, the heart of God.

In Romans 3:24 we read, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

You see, here also we see that there was a cost attached to it. It is freely by His grace for us.

The grace of God is when God shows favor, when He shows love toward us, but it is undeserved. We do not deserve the mercies of God, the love of God. No, we do not.

But here something is given to us freely, as a gift. We do not have to pay.

Somebody did.

Somebody had to pay, and that is what we see in this word “redemption.” Redemption means somebody needed to pay the price.

And because the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price, it is free for you and me, for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then there is a prerequisite.

We read in Romans 3:26, “…so that He should be just and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus,” and also in Romans 5:1, as we have read earlier:

“Therefore, having been justified on the principle of faith…”

We have already seen that the death and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ are what prompt God to deal with us, to bless us.

But how do I get a share in that? How do I have part in that?

Well, it is by faith, by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The road of salvation, when it comes to what we need to do, is very simple.

Repent.

We acknowledge our sinfulness, our hopelessness, that we cannot save ourselves, but that we need a Savior, some work that is happening outside of us.

And faith then connects us with the work of the Lord Jesus.

As somebody has said, it is like the hand that reaches out and takes the hand of God and takes what God has provided for us, knowing that what God has provided is enough. It is sufficient.

But it is that principle.

It is not on the principle of works.

That is how Paul begins the whole topic in chapter 3. He says, on the principle of works, no one shall be justified. On the principle of the works of the law, we cannot be justified, because by the law comes the knowledge of sin.

But it is on the principle of faith, and that is very important for us.

It is not something that we have to do, that we have to add something to, but everything rests upon what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done.

And that is enough for God.

And that prompts God to deal with you and me.

For us, it takes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then, the scope.

What is the scope of justification?

We read in Romans chapter 3, verses 22 and 23:

“The righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

“Towards all” really means no one is excluded. There is not one single human being to whom God does not offer salvation.

Everybody can be saved.

The work of the Lord Jesus Christ is enough so that if everybody came to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith, they could be saved.

That is how great the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is.

It is sufficient that everybody can be saved.

Unfortunately, not everybody comes. Not everybody repents. Not everybody believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so it adds, “and upon all those who believe.”

They are those who really come into the benefit of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done.

And what is the reason God gives?

He says, “For there is no difference.”

If you take the whole human race throughout history, there is no difference.

“For all have sinned.”

They all have sinned, and they all likewise need the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

At the end of chapter 3, Paul raises another thought, and he says, “Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles?”

We need to understand that, especially in the Old Testament, the people of Israel were God’s chosen people, and He dealt with them primarily.

But then the Lord Jesus Christ came, and the Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And therefore God opens the way of salvation to all the other nations, to everybody.

That is something that we can already see in the Old Testament, but we see it also in the Gospels. We just need to look at John chapter 4. He is the Savior of the Jews, yes, also of the Jews. But there it says that He is the Savior of the world—for everyone.

And that is what Paul points to now.

He is not only the God of the Jews, but He is also the God of the Gentiles, the nations.

Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised—that is, the Jews—by faith, the same principle, and the uncircumcised—that is, the Gentiles, the nations—through faith.

The same foundation, the same way: it is by faith.

That is the scope.

It goes toward all, but those who really believe come into the benefit of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ’s work on Calvary’s cross.

And equality—that is the last point I would like to speak about.

It says in Acts chapter 13, verse 39:

“And from all things from which ye could not be justified in the law of Moses, in Him everyone that believes is justified.”

Remember what we said when it comes to forgiveness. We have been forgiven all our sins. Colossians 2:13 gives proof of that, and many other Bible verses give proof that God forgives us all sins.

And here, when it comes to justification, we have the same thought.

There is not one single sin. There is not one single thing from which we have not been justified.

God declares us just, and as such we stand before Him.

We have been justified from all things from which the law could not justify us. In Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone who believes is justified.

That is more the negative side, as something that is being put away.

The positive side would be that we stand as those who are just in the sight of God. We stand before Him.

What a wonderful thing to know.

And those are some things that we now know about justification.

And the last thing is this: we come back to that first thought that we had, this outlook that I would like to give you.

We now understand what it means that we have been justified on the principle of faith, but there are now results.

God looks at us in a totally different way, as those who are just in His sight. And as such, there are results of justification that we want to deal with in the next videos.

The first result is that we have peace toward God.

The second one is that we have access to God in His favor at all times.

We can come to God, and we know that God will never, ever think of you and me—those who have been justified—other than in grace.

And the third thing concerns our future.

We rejoice, we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Yes, being justified is something that we enjoy right now, already. We know that there is something awaiting us, and that is the glory.

Thank you for watching this video, and I look forward to having you with us in the next videos.

If you want to have more resourceful material, we invite you to visit thebiblestudy.site. There are a lot of articles, audio, and also videos that you can read, listen to, or watch, which will help you understand the Bible in more detail.

Well, for today I say goodbye, and God bless.